When the Chicago Black Hawks came to the TD Garden to play the Bruins last Thursday, it was more than a game for Boston – it was a litmus test to see how they stacked up against one of the NHL’s élite teams this year (Black Hawks were 30-10-3 heading into the game). For eight minutes, the Bruins seemed to rise to the occasion, as they built a 2-0 lead on goals by Blake Wheeler and Miroslav Satan (first as a Bruin). Unfortunately, there was another 52 minutes – which Chicago dominated across the board and won the game 5-2, outshooting the B’s 36-21. Even Zdeno Chara got flattened on this hit by Patrick Sharp, as the Hawks firmly grasped control of this game. Tim Thomas was pulled after yielding four of the goals – is it Tuukka (Rask) time yet?

The Bruins should have known this was not going to be their night when Marc Savard went down just 28 seconds into the game with a knee injury:

Savard will be out 3-4 weeks with a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. He won’t need surgery. But he will have plenty of time to watch The Price is Right, for which he and Flyer Scott Hartnell did a promo for the Winter Classic:

Savard’s injury overshadowed the return of Milan Lucic, who missed the last 18 games with a high ankle sprain. Patrice Bergeron is still two weeks away from returning from his thumb injury, and Andrew Ference will be out for six weeks after injuring his groin in the next game against the Rangers. Playing for the Bruins is suddenly turning into playing keyboards for the Grateful Dead…your days are numbered.

There was one bout in the game which merits note simply because of the opportunity to say “Down goes Fraser!!”…it took a little prompting from NESN analyst Andy Brickley to get Jack Edwards to take the bait:

The Bruins were about as quick and sharp as Jack was on this night – not a good thing.

In the next game, a Saturday afternoon Garden matinee against the New York Rangers, things got rollicking quickly with this bout between the Bruins’ Shawn Thornton ( 6′ 2″, 217 lbs) and the Rangers’ Donald Brashear (6′ 3″, 237 lbs):

This was probably the high point of the afternoon for the Bruins. Later in the first period, Marco Sturm became the first player in Bruins’ franchise history to attempt four penalty shots. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made the save, and a Michael Del Zotto goal gave the Broadway Blueshirts a 1-0 lead after one period. The Rangers would lead 2-0 after two periods, and it was miracle it wasn’t more as the Rangers outshot the Bruins 21-3 in that second period. Dennis Wideman did get his first goal in 17 games (3rd), but the rest of the Bruins offense was dormant once again. The Rangers 3-1 victory should be one of the easiest that Lundqvist and Co. have all season.

Tough times for Bruins fans – but here’s a Homer Top Ten to cheer us up…

HOMER TOP 10 on LATE NITE WITH DAVID LETTERMAN

To celebrate 20 years of The Simpsons, Homer Simpson presents the “Top Ten Things I’ve Learned From the Last 20 Years of Television.”

~ CLICK ON BRAIN ~

…or better yet, I just found the YouTube link:

Enjoy a few classics:

The Bruins head west for games this week against Anaheim, San José and Los Angeles.

The Bruins are currently fifth (22-15-7, 51 pts) in the Eastern Conference, but only four points ahead of ninth-place Philadelphia.